State and federal help with Medicare costs, and why so many eligible people never apply.
Medicare Savings Programs are run by your state and can help with Medicare premiums and cost sharing. Extra Help, also called the Low Income Subsidy, is federal and helps with prescription drug costs. They are separate programs with separate rules, and being in one can affect the other.
The most common reason someone eligible never applies is that they assume they earn too much. The limits are higher than most people expect, they change every year, and some kinds of income and assets are not counted the way people assume. Assuming is expensive.
Applications go through Social Security or your state Medicaid office. Current income and resource limits are published at Medicare.gov and by the Social Security Administration, and those are the figures to rely on rather than anything you read on an agent's website.
If you have Medicare and Medicaid, you are already in the group with the most options and the least awareness of them. Start here.
General information only goes so far. What is actually offered where you live, and whether it fits your doctors and prescriptions, takes about ten minutes to check. No charge for the review.